Drug kingpin's brother gets jail over packages

A man who took drug deliveries for his brother, Tauranga drug kingpin Gary Read, while on home detention has been jailed for three years and four months.

Brian Derek Read, 44, of Tuakau, the older brother, claimed he did not know what was in the packages and had been forced to accept the deliveries.

The older Read was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland yesterday after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of importing pseudoephedrine.

The packages he had accepted while he was serving home detention for other offences were used to produce up to $927,000 worth of P, the court heard.

"While you may have been wilfully blind at the outset, you must have known after the first or second delivery what the contents were," Justice Kit Toogood said.

Read was "a crucial part" of his brother's drug enterprise, Justice Toogood said. However, the defence team said he had been influenced by his brother, "a strong and overbearing character".

Brian Read's sentence will be served cumulatively with a term of two years and eight months for other offending, taking his total jail time to six years.

Gary Read, considered the mastermind of the major drug importation and dealing ring, last month pleaded guilty to 74 drugs charges in the High Court in Rotorua.

The charges relate to the importation of drug packages from Thailand between 2009 and 2011, and included the possession of pseudoephedrine and P for supply and participating in an organised criminal group.

Gary Read and his daughter, Kahsharn Oriini Read, 25, who admitted eight joint counts of importing pseudoephedrine, will be sentenced at the High Court in Auckland next month.